Clouds
by Crazyhumor
Summary: Aliens have arrived and things will never be the same. Better than it sounds.


Bonnie pushed her exhausted body forward, ignoring the pain in her lungs and the ache in her legs. She stumbled over rubble and debris, emerald eyes wide with panic and searching. She bent down; dirty, cut fingers tugging at the broken slabs of her once home. She had to find it, her grandmother's notebook, she had to find it. They had come this far. She had to find it. They had bet everything on this chance.

Sweaty dark brown curls stuck to a dirt covered tanned face as she searched, pushing the boulders she could away and using a long piece of iron to dislodge the ones she couldn't. Her worn finger began to bleed but she ignored it to focus on her task. Her shoulders ached, throbbing along with chaotic beat of her heart. Her frayed green jacket snagged on rusty piece of pipe, tearing a long gash up its side, she ignored it. Her clothing were nothing but rags now anyway, an extra tare wouldn't mean anything to anyone but her when the night air grew cold and seeped in through the holes.

The late afternoon sun bared down on her back and sweat slicked down her neck and face, burning her eyes. A shaky breath left her as she wiped at her face with the back of her hand, ignoring the sting emitting from the cut on her forehead. She pushed on. Her arms began to ache, before shifting into agony before settling on being numb. She pushed on. There was no other options.

Then she sound of truck reached her ears and she sucked in a lung full of dusty air, quickly glancing up, up towards the debris littered street to her left. The buildings around her once home, in this part of mystic falls, lay in ruin and was disturbingly quiet. Dark, broken building loomed over her like ghostly shells, charred.

Her heart quickly leaped in her chest when she caught sight of the black truck making its way down the empty street. She quickly slid down the rubble she was sitting on and hid herself behind a steel door, which likely once belong to a freezer. She took a deep breath before peering around her hiding spot and watched the truck. A New Order insignia was printed proudly on it's side. She gripped the iron pole in her hand tightly. She couldn't see who was driving because of the tinted windows, but it hardly mattered if it was someone who was apart of his army, it was someone she had to hide from.

After a few minutes, the truck disappeared, taking its steady hum with it. Bonnie didn't want to wait around to find out if they came back. She dropped the iron rod and picked herself off the ground, standing fully on wobbly legs. She quickly made her get away, climbing and shuffling over debris, she was sure to go the opposite way of the truck. It was a three hour walk back.

Bonnie wrapped her arms around herself and kept her head down as she walked through the slums of what they now called West City, which was most of the city really. She glanced to her left, eyeing a group of people huddled around a burning heap on the ground, trying to not make it obvious that she had indeed noticed the men following her. Her throat tightened. Plus with her being half-starved and the barrier that successfully kept supernatural beings weak, her powers were on the fritz and useless.

The slums was a difficult place to live for anyone, but for women... it was horrible. Crime was already high, but the crime against women was out of control. Just the night before a woman had been raped outside of the place she had been sleeping that night and she had done nothing. Her screams stilled echoed inside of her head. Maybe this was karma coming back to bite her for not helping that woman. Maybe this was her karma for being so useless and for all of the bad things she had ever done.

Bonnie waited until she was turning onto another street to take off in a sprint. The men hooted and made chase.

After only a few seconds of running her body began slow down and her chest burned like an inferno, but she continued on wards. If she could make it home... No, she gently shook her head. She couldn't continue to rely on him to save her, he complained about it enough as is.

She darted sharply left, careening onto the sidewalk and throwing herself into a darkened ally. She pushed herself along the stone walls of a building and hid herself snugly behind an abandoned dumpster. Her eyes slammed shut and she struggled to control her breathing. Her fingers pressed into the ground in front of her, only for her hands to come to her chest when her digits sunk into something sticky. Her nose burned with the rancid smell of garbage, piss, and shit clinging to the air.

Grimacing and pressing her hands against her chest she waited. The men footsteps stomped by a second later, bypassing the hiding spot completely. Bonnie sighed in relief, her chin hitting her chest as she gathered her wits and calmed her racing heart. They were only human then, good.

The sound of air slipping passed lips and a slightly clogged nose, nearly had her screaming. Instead she bit it back and time and fell sideways, away from what had made the noise. The frightened woman stared into the darkness further behind the dumpster, on the ground, hands pressed underneath her, trying to see what had been hiding with her.

Then her eyes adjusted and she was able to make out a pair of large green eyes and a small, dirty round face. The face of a child. They stared at one another, her and the child. Dark green clashed with light green. Neither was sure of what to make of the other.

Bonnie could tell the child was young, four maybe five, but couldn't tell the gender, nor make out any other features besides a head full of wild light brown hair.

The woman looked around, looking for the adult that would surely be with this child. But saw no one. There wasn't a lot of children in the slums. The ones that were around belonged to the local gangs. Once upon a time, she would have asked the child about its parents, maybe would have offered to help. But the world was different now, the whole universe was, and she couldn't afford to help anyone.

Instead of saying anything, Bonnie glanced around dumpsters sides, making sure all was clear, before standing fully without a word. She began to make her way home, only glancing back at the child once. She bit harshly into her lip as if that would stop the guilt and disgust with herself from doing the tango on her gut.

Home was an abandoned industrial sized dumpster that had been tipped over, and could be accessed through a narrow ally, which was behind a thin chain-linked fence. Bonnie began to relax once she had made it to the ally. She was semi-safe now. Well, at least she wouldn't have to worry about rapists.

She had just shimmied her tired body underneath the hole in the fence when a voice made her freeze.

"You thought you could really out run us, girlie? How about you turn around nice and slow with your hands up." Bonnie could hear the cocking of a gun.

Her heart sunk into her toes. She had no choice but to turn around, slowly lifting her hands into the air. Three men stood on the other side of the fence, one of them pointing a gun at her. All of them were dirty and rough looking, the normal look for a person who lived in the slums. They were the men who had been chasing her.

She swallowed, her powers buzzed then fizzled underneath her flesh, not gone, but very useless. "You... You don't have to point that thing at me..." She began stiffly. "I don't have a weapon."

"Yeah," the man snorted, "but you're a quick little pair of tits." His murky brown eyes up and down her body. "And you do have a nice pair." Bonnie took a step back, overwhelmed with the need to cover herself. "Don't move. It'll be over soon enough. You just have to cooperate and everything will be fine, darling. Go on under, Frank." The man waved his gun at one of the men. "We'll do it here."

Frank happily obliged the obvious leader and began to make his way underneath the fence.

Bonnie bit her lip, mind racing. "Would you change your mind if I told you I had an STD?"

All of the men barked out at that. Frank made it to the other side of the fence and was followed by the second. Bonnie eyes darted between them all.

"Honey, we probably all have somethin' to give to the other."

Bonnie ears twitched, hearing movement behind her.

About damn time...

"What if I told you that crossing that fence will get you killed?" She tried. The leader only smirked and began to slide underneath the fence, gun still aimed at her.

"I'd say, 'what can a little o'woman like you do?" He snickered with the other men. Now on the other side of the fence, all of the men stared at her hungrily, one of them was already unzipping his pants. Her stomach lurched."You sure are pretty." Leader observed with a wide grin. "I'm surprised one of the bigger gangs haven't scooped you up already." He took a step forward, eyes still moving over her body. "Maybe we'll keep you around." She felt disgusted.

"Uh, boss.." One of the men voiced slightly alarmed, his brown eyes locked on the lid of the dumpster which was starting to move up, scrapping along the ground loud and dull.

Bonnie cringed.

"Hey, who in the hell is that?" The man with the gun demanded. "Tell'em to stop for. Tell'em to fucking stop before I shoot him!"

Bonnie shrugged a little. "I can't tell him what to do. I can honestly say he's never listened to me."

A split second later a light, but annoyed voice filled the air, " Sharing STDs are we?"

The three men barely had time enough to see the face of their end before blood was being splattered against the dingy alley walls and hearts were being dropped to the ground. Their screams echoed throughout the alley.

Bonnie, who had managed to throw herself out of the way in time to avoid the speeding blur, propped herself up on her arms, feeling new bruises forming. She groaned silently and glared at the vampire before her. He glanced at her with bright blue eyes, his slouched shoulders slightly shook with the quick pants he was taking. His torn black jacket had seen better days along with his stained black shirt and dusty black jeans. His hair was a mess and stuck to his pale, annoyed face.

"I was sleeping!" He growled. "You couldn't have decided to have your orgy with the neighborhood rift raft someplace else?"

Bonnie sighed and pushed herself onto her feet. She was exhausted and she really didn't want to participate in their usual song and dance. Instead of answering him she walked towards the dumpster, which lid he was still holding open like he hadn't slaughtered three men a few seconds ago and bent, sliding inside. She made it to the oil lamp she kept on her half of the dumpster and clicked it on, illuminating the once dark area.

"Why do you sit in the dark all of the freaking time? Would a little light remove that stick out of your ass?" She couldn't help it. She guessed the song and dance was unavoidable.

The lid of their 'home' slammed shut behind him loudly. "Unlike your shit green eyes my beautiful azure irises can see perfectly fine in the dark." He pulled the face that never failed to annoy her. "Now back on topic, why do you keep involving me in your drama? I have better things to do then save your ass all of the time."

"I didn't ask for your help, Damon!" She settled down on her thin blanket, stretching her legs out in front of her. Damon settled down on his side of the dumpster, crossing his arms and leaning back against the iron sides.

"You ran here, so that suggests otherwise. Besides, the relieved, hero-worship look in your eyes when I made my spectacular appearance says it not only wanted but greatly appreciated."

"I live here," she reminded voice void of her earlier annoyance, ignoring all of the other stuff he said. She picked at a hole in her flight jeans, wrapping loose threads around her index finger and pulling.

"I assume you didn't find anything thing, as I said you wouldn't." He told her, voice patronizing to the greatest degree possible. "This has been a waste of time." He closed his eyes and nodded his head. "As I said it would be."

Bonnie gritted her teeth together. "So that year spent tracking down that so called friend of yours wasn't a waste of time?" She scoffed. "So called intergalactic and alien life form specialist my ass. Hate to break it to ya Damon but some dude who collects star wars memorabilia isn't going to help us save the world. We almost starved a million times and was almost captured more then that all because of some guy you met on MySpace a million years ago."

"As oppose to starving now while you search for ways to find some hidden mysterious spell books you plan on using with your none-existing powers on aliens who aren't effected by said powers anyway?" He barked out a laugh as if their predicament was the funniest thing ever.

"I had a dream about it and that means it exists and means something!" She defended hotly.

"That same dream with Sheila and everyone else in it? Sheila's dead, been dead long before the unstoppable fleet of not so little and not so green men fell like acid bird shit out the sky! So are your stupid friends and my dumbass brother. You're alone Bonnie and nothing is going to save you from the threat that hunts us down. Not your magic fingers and not your idiotic optimism. You will just continue to hide in the shadow, scuttle around fearfully in the dark like a rat until general alien sparkle fart catches you... catches us! He will not abandon his goal of tying up loose ends, we are his loose ends. The ones who got away." Damon was left panting at the end of his rant, his voice had hit dangerously high octaves.

Bonnie looked down at her filthy pants, then licked her lips. She ignored the hurtful shit he said and got straight to the real issue at hand."Bad dream? You're not usually so pessimistic... I mean you are... but this is a little much. Calling yourself a rat?" Her tone was serious because she was serious. They both tended to be a little shorter with one anther after a bad dream.

Bonnie never thought her life would have ended up like this the day she woke up to news reports of the United States government being contacting by beings from another planet. She hadn't found it shocking nor alarming considering how her life had been the last few years discovering the supernatural and being a witch and all of that. Aliens from a distant planet seemed trivial. She had bigger problems, right? Wrong. The aliens attacked with a swift force. They were aware of earth's supernatural presence and came prepared. The had some type of, well, something that blocked witch's powers and weakened other supernatural beings and altered them. In a few short weeks humans learned of vampires, witches, werewolves and others teamed up together and lost painfully as one. It would have been beautiful how everyone came together if not for the crushing defeat that followed.

They, states along the south eastern coast, had been entrapped in a power struggle with one of the twenty-eight generals the aliens sent to oppress them. Bonnie had never thought she would be apart of an army but she had been for a short month before the alien general, Sparklin Florks, wiped them out, capturing her friends and sending her and Damon on the run. Sparklin Florks wore a human mask like all of the aliens, she had no idea what the aliens really looked like. But the mask he wore was that of a pale, blonde haired, blue eyed human. The aliens had a preference for that particular look, blonde and beautiful.

She was half-convinced he could have found them a long time ago if he really wanted, but he was playing with them. Sending his goons after them. Disrupting anything peaceful she could find if they had stayed in one place for too long. His soldiers always showed up after awhile and ran them off.

It was a horrible life. She was always afraid, always cold, and always hungry and in pain. They had changed the world from what it was. They never destroyed everything, never went about mass genocide against the human race, just sort of lumped humans together and gave them strict rules to follow. But they hated those with supernatural abilities, killing them if not enslaving them all if caught.

Bonnie pulled her legs to her chest. Who would have thought the only person she could count on would have been an ex-evil vampire with a smart-mouth.

"I'm going to check again tomorrow. I was almost caught today by a Uni-Guard."

Damon simply scoffed. "That makes twice you've almost been caught since we've returned. They say it's the third time that's the charm, corn chip feet. Try not to give away my location too early in your torture."

Bonnie stomach growled and she shifted around until she was able to wrap her blanket around her shoulders. She was starving. She ignored his dig at her body odor, there wasn't anything she could do about it anyway. "Oh, buddy, you best believe if I go down, you're going with me."

The dark eye brows on Damon's face twitched. "Where's your loyalty?" Bonnie smiled a little.

"Like you would be able to survive without me. I would obviously be doing you a favor rather then be betraying you."

As if to prove her point, the once strong vampire bent over and began to cough harshly.

Bonnie quickly felt around behind her for her backpack before finding the tattered material. She unzipped the bag and dug out a mushed-up protein bar and crawled to Damon, pressing her dirty, scarred wrist to his lips. She tore into the protein bar's wrapper with her teeth and took a bite just as a hesitant Damon bit into her wrist. The aliens had do me something to the vampires, something that made them sick and weak most of the time. Something that made them get sicker if they fed on normal humans. Soon they lost the desire for human blood and seemed able to survive on normal food. But her blood and blood of other supernaturals blood was the only way the vampire coughing fits were ceased.

He no longer waved her away like he had years ago, instead he accepted the blood, drinking greedily, until Bonnie pulled her arm away. She took another bite of the protein bar. Food was a luxury now a days, she was too weak to offer a lot of blood.

Damon breathed in silently, leaning back against the dumpster walls, licking his now blood red lips. Their shadows danced along the walls cast by her lantern.

"We have to find some food soon..." She trailed, watching him breathe. Her own breathing returning to normal. It was odd how he needed to breathe now and eat and drink, it was like the aliens had somehow made vampires be stuck between being human and not being human. He popped one eye open and stared at her. "I suppose I can look for a job cleaning houses again." She said thoughtfully. "We can get money from that." His other eye opened but he looked away from her, body stiff. She read his face. "Its not a big deal, Damon. Its not as if you can actually go out and get a job, not with your fits." She chewed slowly, finishing up their last protein bar.

"I do not need to be taken care of." He hissed under his breath. He had been saying that for years, but facts were facts. Things were how they were. Bonnie was the only one out of the two them who could work on the jobs open to beings who didn't have 'papers' like them.

She dared to pat his arm, but the action wasn't anything new. She had started to touch him a year after they had been thrown together and hadn't stopped since. He pretended not to notice mostly.

"You're my body guard, Day..." He growled at the nickname. "Without you I would be screwed over a long time ago an-"

A loud noise springing up outside of the dumpster startled her quiet, as her head whipped towards the closed lid. Her wide green eyes found Damon's narrowed blue ones. He shrugged. She guessed he couldn't smell anything, senses were dulling. Of course things never worked out when they should.

Damon shifted and bent heading for the dumpsters lid, Bonnie followed close behind.

"How many more things are going to follow you home, Judgy?" The vampire complained, arms crossed as they both stared down at the trespasser.

Bonnie uncertainty eyed the child before her. She had instantly recognized the large green eyes and wild brown hair. Thunder rumbled far off someplace and she could smell rain in the air.

"I had no idea she..." Yes, she could tell it was a girl now, "followed me." The child stared up at them with uncertain and shy eyes. She wore a ratty dress, which at one point could have been white and no shoes. She was a tiny little thing with thin limbs and gaunt cheeks.

"Well, get rid of it." Damon ordered.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and bent before the child, offering her a small smile. "Don't you think you should be getting home?" She asked. The child shook her head 'no' quickly. Bonnie bit her lip and glanced at Damon who was looking elsewhere. "Don't you think you're mommy will be worried?" Damon snorted disdainfully. She shot him a glare, turning back around just in time to see the girl shake her head again. "Daddy?" Head shake. "Grandmother?" Head shake. "Aunt... anyone..." The child's eyes filled with tears. Bonnie winced.

The first of many icy cold drops of water hit her skin from above. Bonnie shivered and watched as the little girl did as well and glance upwards.

"She... She doesn't have a place to go, Damon." She told the silent vampire. "She was staying in that ally. She followed me because... she had no place to go..."

"She followed you because she is a stupid danger magnet and apparently so are you."

Bonnie didn't bother glaring at him but she did stand fully. "There's going to be a storm tonight. She should stay with us tonight. No... She will stay with us tonight."

Damon huffed just as the down pour began and another clap of thunder echoed above them. She child fearfully latched onto Bonnie's leg, her whole body shivering. Bonnie's heart ached. Damon was already pulling up the lid to their home.

Bonnie quickly moved into it with the child, followed by Damon.

"I just hope you don't think you can keep her," he allowed the lid to slam closed, "we can't even feed ourselves."

Bonnie quickly wrapped the wet child up in her blanket and smiled at her, before shooting the blue eyed vampire a glare. "She's not a dog, Damon."

He huffed again and looked away. "Might as well be."

(you)

The lid to her trashcan home was propped up by a couple of metal rods today, allowing the warmth emitting from the fire located inside of iron tub to seep into the dumpster. Fluffy white balls of snow drifted lazily down, quickly covering the ground white outside.

The child, Bonnie had started calling Pea, sat in her lap wrapped in her blanket, seemingly mesmerized by watching the snow hit and stick to the ground. Sometimes she would turn around and look up at Bonnie as if to make sure she was watching as well. She even glanced to the other side of the dumpster to see if Damon was, but he never was.

Bonnie would smile down at her and hug her tighter. It had been three weeks since Pea had followed her home and Bonnie couldn't bring herself to chase the sweet child away, much to Damon's annoyance. Though he only complained about it when she would leave the child with him when she would go looking for houses to clean.

She had made a little money over the last few days, enough to buy a little food, water and even an extra blanket. Money was tight, but things were okay.

Pea pointed outside and looked back at Bonnie with pleading eyes.

Bonnie sighed. "You want to go play in the snow?" The child nodded happily, smiling, showing all of her little teeth.

Bonnie smiled at her sadly. "Sorry sweety, but I couldn't find you any shoes." She poked the child's tiny foot hanging out of their blanket. "I don't want you to get sick."

Pea eyes became wet, but the child didn't make a fuss. Instead, she took a shuddering breath before turning back around to watch the snow fall. Bonnie's heart broke. The child was already so use to disappointments.

She hated it.

Four minutes later, Bonnie was helping Pea slid her tiny, socked foot into Bonnie's much larger shoe. She then slid the one mitten she could find onto the child's little right hand and zipped up the over-sized jacket she had found, which nearly swallowed the child hole.

"Not too long, okay?" She tucked strands of hair behind the child's ear. Pea nodded eagerly before darting out of the dumpster and into the snow, beginning to play.

"What are you going to do if she gets sick?" Damon voice distracted her from watching the child play. She looked at him.

"I'll handle it. No worries, Day, I won't ask for your help." She frowned at him. "So that's the first thing you say in three days?" He merely looks at her. "I get you're not happy about her being here." She glanced at the child, who was now twirling around in the snow, a smile tugged at her lips. "But... don't you ever just feel like you want to stop always running and always being afraid and do something right...? Something that will matter?"

"How will helping that child matter? She won't make it through the winter, plus she will suck up resources and give nothing in return. She's useless."

Bonnie frowned deeper. "Because its the right thing to do! Because...because... Don't you have a heart?"

He looked at her blankly. "Of course I h-"

"I mean feelings... compassion..." She sighed. "That's a stupid question." She remembered who she was talking too. "How many people have you killed, Damon?" She asked honestly. "Hundreds, right?" She scratched her head. "But I helped you anyway. I didn't have to help you whenever you have a fit but I do..." He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "Yeah, half of the reason I did it was because I was afraid and because I don't want to be alone. I also did it because you needed it, mercy. How many people begged you not to hurt them before you did anyway?" He pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes. "None of it matters now." She quickly added. "Its nothing now... you're not that Damon anymore." He watched her closely. "Because you can't be that Damon anymore... there's someone who is a lot stronger then you now, someone who you are afraid of. So now you're like everyone else. You're change may not have been a choice, but that obviously doesn't mean you don't have to embrace it."

Damon looked away from her. "What in the hell are you going on and on about?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes and opened her mouth, only for a scream to interrupt her. Bonnie quickly looked for Pea, horrified to find the child on the other side of the chain-linked fence, fighting off a man trying to pull her out of the ally.

Bonnie was up in seconds and sliding out of the dumpster and under the fence without thought, barley feeling the bite of the cold along her bare feet.

Her hands wrapped around the man's, pulling it off of Pea's coat as she wrapped her arms around the child. "You let go of her right now!"

"What in the hell?" He cursed. He wrapped a strong hand around her upper forearm and slammed her into the wall next to them. Bonnie winced, her teeth clinking together. Her weakened, starved body cried out. "You fucking scratched me, you bitch!" His eyes moved over Bonnie's face a smirk making its way onto his thin, chapped lips. Bonnie hugged Pea closer to her as she man's hand tightened around her arm. "Looks like I'm getting two for one."

"Is that how it is now, people expecting to get something for nothing?" The three humans all looked to the vampire who was surprisingly close and steadily walking towards them, face vamped out.

"What in the hell are you doing here?" The man growled weakly, obviously afraid. "Aren't you suppose to be dead if not a slave?"

Damon sighed dramatically. "Oh, I wish."

Suddenly Bonnie found the hand wrapped around arm gone and she was stumbling backwards with Pea as the man was slammed against the wall next to the place she had been. Damon hands were wrapped around the man's neck.

"Before you come around thinking you can take things," he smiled cruelly, "you should consider if what you are trying to take belongs to someone else first. Then, you should wonder what that person would do to you if he found you attempting to take and harm his items. Its dangerous to take from strangers who you have no idea how they would react." The man was let go after his face had turned a deep crimson. He landed on the ground on his back, Damon foot dug into his chest. He pressed down. "I hate when others touch my belongings."

Bonnie didn't even look away as Damon crushed the man under his feet. The vampire looked at her and scowled. "Inside now, when did you become such a ditz! Are you trying to catch your death?"

She felt the numbness in her feet creep up her calves and her teeth began to clink as her body shivered uncontrollably.

(you)

Bonnie was sick. Really, really sick for a few days. She couldn't even remember most of those days, just that Damon cursed a lot, that her body ached, and that Damon had to pick a teary-eyed Pea up and carry her away from her. She remembered finding that amusing.

She could remember Damon being on edge and saying something about him being spotted by someone, and him saying they had to move soon because someone maybe have recognized him. She had been afraid about that and tried sitting up but Damon had yelled at her. She could recall being fed very watery soup by Damon twice and snow being placed in her mouth.

Then, she woke up one day and everything was alright.

But now they had to go. Leave the city.

Bonnie picked Pea up and wrapped the child in her cloak before turning to watch Damon slid into his own cloak and push his hood up. Wordlessly, Bonnie left her home of five months behind, once again on the move.

They left West city and slept in an old barn that night and someone's chicken coop, the third night was spent outside with no walls and only a campfire.

Bonnie settled Pea onto the log next to her, wrapping her blanket around the child, and pulled off her own boots, wincing at the blisters on her feet. She curled her toes. Pea tugged at her cloak, pulling her attention. The child patted her stomach and pouted.

Bonnie grimaced. "Are you hungry?" Pea nodded. Bonnie bit her lip, she glanced at Damon who she found was actually watching them, to her surprise. Bonnie shrugged off her backpack she searched through it for something the child could eat. A half-eaten energy bar was all she could come up with. She handed it to the child and watched as she devoured it. She had obviously been ravished. Bonnie instantly felt guilty.

As the toddler licked at her fingers, Bonnie picked her and settled her into her lap. "Do you want to hear about my friends again?" Pea nodded settling in Bonnie's lap, her head against her chest. With that Bonnie started the story of how she met her two best friends and stories of their childhood. She even told the child how she met Damon, with a couple of omissions to keep the child seeing Damon in a good light. She even told the child a couple of secrets and stared expectantly at Damon to share his.

Damon scoffed.

"Oh come on," she leaned forward, peering into his eyes. "We've been through so much together. You've seen me naked!" Damon grimaced. Bonnie snort out a laugh. "I'm sure a vampire as old as you would have a secrete maybe two..."

"I have no need for secretes." His gaze flickered too the fire between them. "That I'm going to share with two midgets."

Bonnie sighed with a yawn. "I'm going to bed. You're no fun." With that she settled onto the ground with Pea.

(you)

Bonnie walked through the streets of salt lake city, Pea on her hip. She had to find money so they could get food. It had been two days since Pea had eaten and even longer for her and Damon. Bonnie felt as if she was running on fumes.

Damon stayed behind at the abandoned shipping container they had decided to make their home for awhile. He had another fit and even though he looked human enough sometimes the aliens had these gun things that made vampires vamp out and went around scanning people to make sure vampires weren't walking among the humans. They had technology capable of identifying witches too but the aliens went around checking for witches less, considering witches couldn't use their powers anyway.

Salt lake city had a smaller slum then West city, so unfortunately Bonnie in her ratty clothes and dirty hair stuck out as she moved down the street with a dirty, bare-foot child. But apparently it was a normal enough sight that the few people who did look at her, shot her sympathetic looks. No one offered to help, at first.

Then she had found a park and a water fountain, she had just filled their water bottle with water and was holding Pea up to drink when an old woman approached her, smiling sadly at them. Bonnie shifted awkwardly on her feet. She awkwardly placed their water back into her bag.

"They are giving away free meals at the center until 3." The old woman said. "You can get you and your daughter something to eat."

Bonnie placed Pea back on her hip, following after the woman who had started to walk away. "Center?" She questioned. "I'm... new to the city. I'm not sure... how to find it."

The old woman stopped and smiled at her kindly. "Its only a couple of blocks north of here."

Bonnie bit her lip. "Do... Do you need papers?" She whispered.

The old woman smiled again. "No, dear."

Bonnie returned the woman's smile. "Thank you, ma'am."

(You)

Bonnie's mouth watered as she watched a red haired woman load her plate with food. She hadn't seen so much food in a while.

The center was packed with the homeless and hungry, but they had made it in time and their was plenty of food left. Bonnie bit her lip.

"Excuse... Excuse me..." She began, speaking to the woman. The woman met her eyes with a dull expression. "Uh..." Bonnie began. "Do you... Can you fix a plate for someone who isn't here?"

The woman's expressionless face quickly began to twist in annoyance. "Let me guess, the child's father? Honey, if he's not willing to get a job and keep you and his child fed and keep you from resembling something the sewer spit up, I suggest you dump him. Especially if he can't even come and get his own food." Insulted and annoyed with the woman's judgments, Bonnie glared at her.

"Its not even like that!" Bonnie exclaimed. "He's sick! He couldn't come!"

The woman rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, I'm sure. Look, if he wants food he's going to have to come himself. I suggest you just worry about you and your child."

Bonnie opened her mouth, ready and wanting to give the woman a piece of her mind.

"Bonnie?" Said woman turned around, dark brows shooting up in surprise upon seeing Matt standing behind her in an apron. The man smiled brightly. "It really is you!" Bonnie could only stand in shock as Matt hugged her tightly.

"Matt..." She finally said once she was let go.

The now older looking blonde took a step back and studied her, and for the first time in years, Bonnie became conscious of her own appearance, very, very conscious. Matt looked great in his white T-shirt and jeans, not starving and not haggard.

Bonnie bit her lip, very aware of the dirty strands of hair hanging in her face and the dirt underneath her nails. She tried keeping herself and Pea as clean as possible, but it was nearly impossible considering they didn't have a real home.

Matt smiled, thoughts hidden, seeming to finish studying her. "Its great to see you again."

"S-Same here," Bonnie clutched Pea to her, suddenly feeling as if the child was her security blanket.

"She looks like you" he said awkwardly Pea before glancing over Bonnie's head, "looks like your food is ready and I have to get back... I volunteer here every Saturday. How about when my shift is over you and..."

"Pea..."

"You and Pea come to my place and spend the night?"

"We... couldn't..."

"Come on, Bonnie, its suppose to snow again tonight. Plus we have so much catching up to do."

Before she could deny Matt's offer again, Matt was already gone.

Bonnie's shoulders sagged as she watched her old friend disappear. Pea lightly patted her face, drawing her attention to the child. "You're hungry, huh?" She asked with a small awkward laugh, turning around to gather her plate and Pea's.

She would eat only half of her food and somehow get the rest to Damon.

Matt appeared before her right as she was making her escape, her half-eaten plate in her hands. The man eyed the plate.

"Is there someone else? I can fix them an actual plate and let you eat all of yours. Also, they can come to my place too." Matt looked Bonnie in the eye. "Come on I really want to this. And... I have no idea what happened."

Bonnie blinked. Oh yeah. She probably meant what happened to their friends. Bonnie shifted Pea onto her other hip and bit her lip. "Alright..." It was the least she could do.

(you)

Bonnie carefully sat Pea down on the floor and glanced back at Damon. Her fingers entwined together nervously as she glanced down the hall of the apartment complex, before looking at the cloaked Damon once again.

"This is a good idea." She said. "Its really cold out there and... maybe we can even take a shower." She bit her lip. "Matt is my friend and he invited us. We'll be gone by morning."

Damon blinked. "You do realize I haven't said anything to you about this, correct? I have been standing here silently." He narrowed his eyes at her. " Girl, are you losing your mind?"

Pea giggled. Bonnie's eyes found the child, her own smile finding her face. She loved hearing the mute child laugh. She laughed a little at herself a minute later. "Yeah, I gu-"

"Bonnie, you came!" Bonnie was happy Matt was still willing to help them, despite the potential consequences. "I was worried you wouldn't." His blue eyes went to Pea then to Bonnie's cloaked companion. "Come on in you guys. The showers open if any of you are open to that."

Bonnie grabbed Pea's hand and stepped inside first.

"Its only a two bedroom, is it alright if you guys share?" Matt questioned, noticeably peeking at Damon under his hood. "oh, its you." Matt didn't seem pleased to see the vampire. Bonnie cleared her throat, shooting Damon a worried glance hoping he was smart enough not to start something with someone who was helping them. Matt had been her friend, but that had been years ago and before the world came to be how it was now. Before simply being seen talking to an unregistered and fugitive supernatural could put a target on your back.

Bonnie pulled her eyes away from the normal sized apartment building, it was decorated with lots of light colors, but there were odd sparks plainness. It was a nice place, nice and warm. She bit her lip. "Uh... yeah, that's fine, we always sleep together. Matt, I guess you remember Damon, I don't think I said already..."

Matt smiled kindly. "What's up, Damon?" Damon said nothing, Matt's smile faltered.

Bonnie groaned. "Don't mind him, he can't help but be rude." She shot the vampire a glare.

Matt laughed and waved his had dismissively. "Its not a big deal... I'm making dinner so I hope you guys are hungry."

Bonnie sat on Matt's couch, feeling cleaner then she had in months, with an equally as clean Pea on her lap, the child snuggling into her. She was full and warm, she was forever grateful and would owe Matt forever. Matt had given her clothing that belonged to his girl friend, who was out of town working and even had a pair of shoes for Pea, something about them being from the shelter.

"Bonnie..." Matt began, returning into the living room dressed in a pair of yellow sweats and a white tank top. He sat on the couch next to the woman and child, facing them. "I would like to hear what happened now. What happened to everyone..."

Bonnie bit her lip and glanced up as Damon entered into the living room again, cleaner. She ran her fingers through Pea's soft brown curls nervously. Her eyes locked on the television which was playing the news.


End file.
